Two Philadelphia health giants enter race for Delaware medical school

Why Should Delaware Care?
Months after Delaware received nearly $160 million from the federal government to bolster its rural health care infrastructure, one of its principal proposals to build a medical school now has multiple applicants. 

Two Philadelphia powerhouses have entered the running to operate Delaware’s first medical school, which will be funded by hundreds of millions of dollars awarded by the federal government. 

Thomas Jefferson University and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) both submitted bids to the state late last month to operate the proposed medical school.

In its request for a partner institution to run the school, the state hopes that by the fall of 2028 it would have at least 40 students enrolled and attending classes. It does not specify a location or county where the state would like to house the operation. 

However, the medical school would be expected to stand up a program that takes advantage of clinical resources that already exist in the state. 

“The program will leverage Delaware’s existing health care infrastructure and clinical training sites in communities across the State of Delaware to prepare physicians for rural practice,” the bid said. 

Prior to the bidding process, Delaware and Jefferson signed a non-binding agreement, where Jefferson said it hopes to build a branch campus of its Sidney Kimmel Medical College somewhere in the state.

That agreement, which was signed prior to an announcement by the state that it was pursuing the federal funds, said Delaware will “provide all necessary and appropriate financial resources for the development, implementation, and sustainability of the branch campus.”

In November, a spokesperson for Gov. Matt Meyer’s office said the non-binding agreement would have no bearing on the competitive procurement process. 

Delaware applied for the funding through the “Rural Health Transformation Program,” a provision of the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act that earmarks $50 billion for states to improve their rural health care infrastructure.

In late December, Delaware was awarded $157 million in its first batch of funding through the program. According to the state website dedicated to the program, Delaware intends to spend $42.5 million of its first-year-award on the medical school.

Who are the bidders?

In total, four vendors applied to run Delaware’s first medical school. 

Two of the larger applicants, Jefferson and PCOM, already are established regional medical schools. Another applicant – a medical school in Puerto Rico – seems unexpected, but a representative from the school said it has a track record of success in standing up and operating branch campuses. 

The final applicant is the global consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, which appears to be angling for a role where it would handle reporting requirements to the federal government. 

Jefferson already has a sizable footprint in Delaware’s medical education landscape with clinical and educational relationships with ChristianaCare, Beebe Healthcare and Nemours Children’s Hospital in Wilmington.

The university’s non-binding agreement with the state said the pair would work toward the “enhancement” of Jefferson’s current branch campus in Delaware, in which third- and fourth-year students work at ChristianaCare.

Jefferson also has an agreement with Delaware’s Institute of Medical Education and Research, which reserves seats in out-of-state medical schools for Delaware residents. Jefferson reserves 20 seats annually for Delawareans. 

Like Jefferson, PCOM reserves 10 seats for Delawareans looking to enter its osteopathic medicine program. 

Earlier this year, PCOM announced a collaboration with Delaware’s two largest health systems to “attract more physicians to practice in central and southern Delaware.” 

That partnership between Bayhealth, ChristianaCare and PCOM would place five third-year medical students in hospitals in the state’s lower counties to work clinical rotations.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, which applied under the name PwC US Consulting LLP, is a London-based consulting firm. It is one of the largest firms in the world, and is likely applying to serve as a vendor that would manage project oversight and required reporting to the state health department and the federal government.

Ponce Health Sciences University, which applied under the name “Tiber Health Public Benefit Corporation,” is a private Puerto Rican medical school. 

Kenira Thompson, vice president of research at the university, said many of Puerto Rico’s rural health needs mirror those of Delaware’s, specifically provider shortages. 

When asked why it was a better candidate to run the medical school compared to the more established regional options, Thompson pointed to a branch campus the university operates in St. Louis, that she said has been successful. 

“We’ve done this successfully,” Thompson said. “We have been able to prove that our students perform well.” 

Thompson also pointed to Delaware’s designation as a state eligible for the Institutional Development Award (IDeA), through the federal government. The IDeA program funds states that have had “historically have had low levels” from the government to do medical research. 

Puerto Rico shares this designation, Thompson said. She said with Ponce’s experience with the IDeA program, it could set Delaware’s medical school apart when it comes to research. 

None of the other three vendors returned a request for comment on this story, nor did Gov. Matt Meyer’s office. 

Federal funds for Delaware

The state announced in November it would fund 15 programs with money from the Rural Health Transformation Program. The program was created to court Republican senators hesitant to support more than $900 billion in cuts to Medicaid, which could disproportionately impact rural communities and their health care facilities. 

In February, Meyer’s office released an initial batch of requests for potential vendors to carry out programs that will be funded by a federal payout aimed at improving rural health across the country. Some of those bids include funding a new medical school, creating a “Food is Medicine” program, as well as operating rural health hubs in Sussex and Kent counties.

It came weeks after the state received its first award from the federal government totaling more than $157 million. The full award amount for the state remains unclear, but the state will receive at least $500 million from the multi-year federal program.

The initial award represents the first batch of funding Delaware hopes to receive over the next five years, which could increase or decrease on a yearly basis depending on how much money is spent.

Delaware also intends to build two homeless shelters in Kent and Sussex based on Hope Center New Castle County. According to the state’s website for the Rural Health Transformation Program, Delaware intends to spend more than $26 million of its first-year-award on the shelters, but has yet to put out bidding requests.